<\/p>\n
BAYFIELD \u2013 Able to pitch a near-shutout defensively during the third quarter, the rallying Montezuma-Cortez girls\u2019 basketball team crept to within two points with only eight regulation minutes remaining, but ultimately could not erase the eight-point deficit facing them at halftime and suffered a season-ending 41-33 loss Tuesday evening in the Intermountain League District Tournament\u2019s play-in game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat third quarter \u2026 that was definitely one of the things we talked [at halftime] about: Bayfield had made their run and so we were looking to make ours,\u201d said M-CHS head coach Brad Wright. \u201cAnd we did just that, but then we had a couple lapses and ended up re-digging a hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game was definitely going our way; we did almost shut them out,\u201d senior forward Presley Frost agreed, alluding to the Lady Panthers out-scoring host Bayfield 9-3 during the third, and approaching as close as 25-23 via senior Malia Begay\u2019s clutch three-pointer off-setting Lady Wolverine junior Cayanne Carlson\u2019s trey with less than a minute left in its closing moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can always rely on Myra (Simmons) and Malia to put down \u2026 3s,\u201d said Frost, who sparked the visitors\u2019 third-quarter comeback herself with an early corner triple. \u201cAnd we know to give it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe changed our mindset,\u201d junior center Paige Yarbrough said, explaining M-CHS\u2019 post-intermission revitalization. \u201cWe were attacking rather than playing to not lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
BHS (9-11 overall), however, found a similar mentality right when it mattered most.<\/p>\n
Beginning the final frame on a 13-2 run, featuring a sequence in which freshman reserve guard Riley Campbell knocked down back-to-back jumpers and then \u2013 after Wright took a 30-second timeout \u2013 zipped a perfect set-up pass to junior Madison Wells on the left wing for a crippling three, Bayfield\u2019s advantage swelled to 38-25.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I just saw her out there and I was like, \u2018I\u2019m not going to try to drive; I\u2019m just going to pass it,\u2019\u201d said Campbell. \u201cShe was wide-open \u2026 I just felt like we needed to score. We needed a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
M-CHS senior Dimery Plewe responded with a badly-needed free throw, but the Lady Wolverines answered with sophomore guard Maddy Oltmanns converting a breakaway layup with 3:22 left \u2013 maxing out the home team\u2019s lead at 14 points.<\/p>\n
With time remaining but expiring faster and faster, Montezuma-Cortez (6-13) again struck from deep with senior Mackenzie Begay cashing a trey and bringing the no-quit Lady Panthers back to 40-31.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obviously spend a lot of time working on our perimeter game; we expect that to be a big part,\u201d Wright said. \u201cIf we would have shot a little bit better from outside the three-point line, I think it would\u2019ve given us a better chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
But despite totaling four triples to Bayfield\u2019s three, M-CHS \u2013 which had led 10-9 after the opening quarter before BHS junior center Macee Schulz started the second on a personal 6-0 run, with junior Brooke Merchant then tacking on a key three \u2013 would come up short.<\/p>\n
Merchant would hit a late free throw (Bayfield finished 4-of-11 from the charity stripe; M-CHS was 7-of-12) and with 0:56 remaining, Lady Panther senior Hayden Leggett was lost to an apparent left ankle injury, resulting from a vertical, volleyball spike-style rejection by Schulz, causing Leggett to land hard and off-balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery bittersweet, tough to end the season like this, but when it\u2019s all said and done, there\u2019s only \u2026 one winner; unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t us today,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n
Playing their final game in black-and-orange togs were Frost (5 points), Leggett (4), Simmons (4), Malia Begay (5), Taelynn Comisky, Plewe (3) and Mackenzie Begay (3) \u2013 a group the skipper said he\u2019d be sad to see leaving the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough to replace what we have \u2013 the maturity level and the skill level \u2013 with the seniors,\u201d Wright said. \u201cBut I\u2019m really proud of what they\u2019ve done; there\u2019s a lot of character with the group and they\u2019re going to do well in life, how they carry on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI played softball with Taelynn and Myra, so \u2026 it was nice going from that to this sport because we already had a bond,\u201d said Frost. \u201cAnd, you know, I\u2019ve been playing (basketball) with these seniors since, probably, my sixth grade year; it was nice to go out with them, and with the coach that we started with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played with them since I was in fourth grade, so we have a lot of chemistry,\u201d added Yarbrough (8 points). \u201cWe made some amazing progress, but I\u2019m sad to see all the seniors leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schulz totaled a game-best 10 points, Oltmanns and Carlson each booked eight and Merchant six as Bayfield advanced to face regular-season IML champs Pagosa Springs (15-4) on Friday in the tourney\u2019s Monte Vista-hosted semifinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that we came out with a lot of passion and a lot of drive,\u201d said Carlson. \u201cWe need to have that mentality to \u2026 push ourselves forward in the season. We\u2019re just going to have to focus on \u2026 working our hardest at practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Centauri (17-2) and Alamosa (16-4) will settle the second semi; AHS mangled MVHS (2-18) in the other play-in, 54-5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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